Total pages in book: 61
Estimated words: 59804 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 299(@200wpm)___ 239(@250wpm)___ 199(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 59804 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 299(@200wpm)___ 239(@250wpm)___ 199(@300wpm)
Santino looked ready to wreck the world. His posture was stiff, his eyes taking in every single detail of the room, calculating his ability to win and escape the path he was being forced into.
There was no escape.
I knew it.
He knew it.
Everyone knew it, but that’s what you do when you’re cornered, you look for an escape first, and then you fight.
He lunged at me first.
Phoenix shot into his left shoulder. “Move again, and it’s your heart.”
“Shit.” Santino grabbed his shoulder and kicked the sofa so hard I’m surprised it didn’t flip. “I’m with you.”
I could see the rest of it in his eyes: he was with us. For now. He was on our side. For now. He had no choice. But what about later?
Later would have to wait. Tonight we needed to shed blood.
“That was easy.” Phoenix shrugged and put his gun away. “Now that we know you won’t kill us behind our backs for a few million dollars, you need to go with Chase and do a bit of… hunting.”
Santino’s eyes flashed like he was excited before annoyance and anger kicked in. “So everyone orders me around now? I’m just the bitch of the Cosa Nostra?”
“Of course not.” Chase snorted. “That guy is.” He pointed to Vic in the corner, one of our top guys. He didn’t even flinch just took it like he always did when Chase gave him shit.
“Unbelievable.” Santino cursed. “If I go with Chase, who guards the girl?”
“Her brother.” I leveled Santino with a glare. “Remember, you touch her—I cut off your dick. You’re there to make sure she’s safe, even if that means you have to keep her safe from you.” I didn’t like the way she kept touching him without realizing it. He’d saved her. As if I had nothing to do with it as if it wasn’t my idea in the first place.
But she clung to him.
He claimed he had no heart—we’d see, wouldn’t we?
The problem was, even though she didn’t remember much of her childhood, I did.
Katya’s kryptonite had always been animals.
She would hold spiders and try to find their parents.
She loved anything that was broken and bruised.
And Santino? He was one of the worst cases of a heartless bastard I’d ever seen. Which was saying a lot since I would have put myself in that same category until Alice. The guy was covered in internal bruises, bleeding from the inside out, and he liked it that way. Relentlessly danced in the blood of his enemies and smiled while doing it.
I saw red when she touched him.
He would be dead if he ever followed through with anything other than protecting her. I know he realized it, but when it came to people with big hearts, hearts like my sister’s—if her trauma hadn’t destroyed it—I wasn’t so sure the big scary assassin was any match.
She was, after all, a Petrov.
Pride filled me despite the bleak atmosphere because I finally had one of them back. I could never save everyone, I knew that, but I was able to save her. I could breathe easier at night, knowing she was safe.
Chase pulled out his gun, shaking me from my thoughts. “Let’s go, twinkle toes, people to kill, pot roasts to eat.”
“Pot roast?” Santino repeated. “Really?”
“We like nice things here in Chicago.” Chase winked, and it was dinner time. I was convinced we’d see some pot roast. “Killing is hard work, man.” He turned to me. “We’ll be in touch.”
“Don’t die,” Tex called after him.
Chase just waved him off. “As long as the angry one doesn’t slip, we should be good.” He turned to Santino. “That’s you, by the way.”
“Figured.” He grabbed his own gun. “We leaving any witnesses?”
I shared a look with Tex. “Two of his men, leave them alive but barely and make sure you leave a mark…”
“A mark?” Chase hesitated. “What kind?”
“Shit.” Santino sighed. “Russians.”
“In their chest, I want you to get creative with a dagger and draw out a bloody B.”
“What’s it stand for?” Nixon asked. He’d been silent, but I knew he was plotting, strategizing.
“Bratva.” I stood. “Bratva Brotherhood. As of today, we’re no longer separate Families. We are one.” I slit open my hand and held it out; each man did the same, leaving only Santino.
With a curse, he stepped forward, slit his palm, and shook each hand.
We would welcome him later that night in a way that would give him nightmares, but for now, his blood was enough, it was a through-and-through shot, and a little bit of suffering never hurt anyone, not when it came to our lives and what we protected.
“Let’s go,” Chase barked.
I sat down and grabbed my glass of wine.
Nixon sat to my right, Phoenix to my left.
“What?” I asked.
“This won’t end well,” Nixon said under his breath.
“No, but mark my words, I will fucking end it,” I snapped.